SINGAPORE, Nov 5 — Her children and lover have already gone to jail for abusing their maid. Now the woman who instigated the ‘systematic torture’ will herself spend three years behind bars.
Divorcee Maselly Abdul Aziz, 39, had encouraged her family and a friend to pour boiling water on the woman’s genitals and joined in when they pulled out her two front teeth with pliers.
The 30-year-old Indonesian maid, Badingah, was put through two months of abuse in 2007 for alleged offences like stealing.
Maselly, who had planned the “serious pattern of maid abuse”, deserved no leniency from the court, Deputy Public Prosecutor Natalie Morris said before sentencing yesterday.
The prosecutor said: “Her attacks arose not from sudden loss of her temper but were premeditated and deliberate acts supposedly to punish the maid for alleged misdeeds.”
As the prime player behind the acts, Maselly should get a significantly heavier punishment than her children and friend, said the DPP.
Maselly’s daughter, Nur Rizan Mohd Sazali, who was 18 when she went to jail last year, was sentenced to two years and two months for extracting Badingah’s teeth and pouring hot wax over the maid’s head.
Nur Rizan’s brother Muhammad Iz’aan Mohd Sazali, then 20, was jailed for six weeks for caning the maid.
Elsa Elyana Said, 25, who was described in court documents as Maselly’s lesbian lover, was jailed for one year and five months for punching the maid and helping to pull out her teeth. Maselly’s son and lover have completed their jail terms.
Yesterday, District Judge Jeffrey Sim allowed Maselly to start serving her sentence only from Dec 28.
By then, Nur Rizan would be out of jail and on home detention, when she can look after her two-year-old son. Maselly is now taking care of Nur Rizan’s boy, as well as her own youngest child, a seven-year-old girl who has leukaemia.
During the three-week trial earlier this year, the court heard that Maselly had instigated the abuse to get the maid to confess to stealing several items.
Boiling water was poured on her as punishment for allegedly ill-treating Maselly’s younger daughter. She also hit the maid on the head with a metal rod and threatened to kill her. The jail terms for these offences will run concurrently with the three-year jail term.
In a separate conviction, Maselly was also fined S$7,500 (RM18,380)yesterday for employing another maid without a work permit in 2005.
Badingah, who was in court with two representatives of the Indonesian Embassy, told The Straits Times that she cannot forgive her tormentors. Now that the case is over, the mother of two is looking forward to returning to Indonesia.
Maselly, who said earlier that she may file an appeal, was released on S$15,000 bail yesterday. If she appeals within the next 10 days, she neednot start her jail term on Dec 28. —The Straits Times
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